Your big move is looming and you are busy decluttering in a bid to rid yourself of excess goods. That’s a smart thing to do as the less stuff you have to haul, the lower your moving costs.
Packing everything is another challenge, one that will be met by acquiring and filling up containers to hold everything. That means every container you acquire or currently possess has potential for a particular use. We’ll examine each type of container and how you can best make use of them.
Packing Boxes
The more boxes for moving you can acquire, the lower your moving costs. Fortunately, many local retailers have such boxes available for the asking. Choose boxes of all sizes here as you can make use of all of them.
Larger boxes that once contained paper towels and toilet tissue should be filled with light items, such as blankets, pillows, and sheets. Much smaller boxes can hold heavier items, such as your mantle clock, your collection of lighthouses, as well as wires for your television, computer and gaming devices.
Plastic Snapping Containers
If you need to invest in containers, choose a set of 18-gallon storage totes with lids. Such containers are sturdy and self snapping, and are ideal for holding just about anything.
The advantage of plastic snapping containers is that they stack well, such as on a moving truck, and can be reused over and over again. Place these containers in your attic at your new address, reusing them to hold your seasonal items, such as your Christmas decorations and your pool supplies.
Shoe Boxes
If you have an expensive pair of shoes, then use a shoe box for its intended purpose. That box should be carefully wrapped, banded and placed in a larger container filled with other soft goods.
Shoe boxes also have many other purposes. They’re great for holding small toys, such as your son’s loose Lego bricks or your daughter’s stamp collection. These boxes are also ideal for holding all those miscellaneous items found in your kitchen junk drawer as well as the screws, nuts and bolts and small containers on your husband’s work bench.
Small Plastic Containers
You have quite a collection of small, plastic containers you’ve been using to hold your leftovers and dry food items. Rubbermaid, Tupperware and similar containers may be repurposed while you move, to hold a variety of items.
Start with your bathroom items. Here, you can place toothpaste, toothbrushes and other dental devices in these containers. Makeup, nail clippers, toiletries, and the rest can be held in these containers too. Then, create a dedicated packing box for each bathroom, placing the small plastic containers in each one and padding same.
Gift Boxes
Just like shoe boxes, use gift boxes for what they were originally designed for. Beyond that, they can house an assortment of knick knacks or anything of value or is breakable.
Place these gift boxes in a dedicated moving box with generous amounts of padding. Then, label each box as “fragile” and identify the room where the box will be placed.
Wardrobe Boxes
Your finer clothes may have cost you a mint when purchased new and the last thing you want is to have your silken blouses, natty business suit or other garment damaged in the moving process. Here, you’ll want to invest in wardrobe boxes, something you can purchase from the moving company explains Allied Moving.
Once your move is completed, you can continue to use the wardrobe boxes. Simply place your seasonal items in these boxes along with cedar chips to repel moths.
Making Your Move
Quite easily, you may end up with hundreds of moving containers by the time you complete your move. For those containers you no longer need, take these to your recycling center. Or, you might place them at the curb for trash pickup or write “free” on same and anyone to take them.